Horsham mayor Robyn Gulline speaks on federal election priorities

In six weeks' time, voters will head to the polls to decide who will be Prime Minister, a time which many groups see as an opportunity to advocate for commitments from the major parties.

Horsham Rural City Council mayor Robyn Gulline said throughout the campaign she would advocate for more investment in critical services for the region, and take any commitment she could get regarding the Wimmera.

Cr Gulline earmarked a change to the federal Financial Assistance Grant program as a key priority for the council.

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The program provides untied payments to local governments across the country, meaning councils can use them on maintenance and renewal projects instead of new projects.

"The federal assistance grants are untied and we can apply them to anything. That is really the key thing, but unfortunately, that has slipped over time," she said.

"It is actually really important for us to be able to maintain our facilities and infrastructure at the standards they should be at to deliver the services our community needs."

This comes as Regional Cities Victoria, a group of Victoria's 10 largest regional cities of which Horsham is a part, has released its 2022-25 advocacy platform.

The plan calls for expanded investment in key regional grant programs, such as the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund and the Regional Events Fund, as well as targeted investment in rail and telecommunications.

Regional Cities Victoria chair Kim O'Keefe said candidates needed to recognise the role of regionals cities in driving the national economy.

"The message from regional Victoria is loud and clear. Any plan to recover and rebuild after the pandemic must include strategic investment into our regions," she said.

"We are seeing unprecedented population shifts into regional Victoria, and we need Commonwealth policy and funding that supports sustainable growth and ensures our regions are a great place to work, live and visit."

Among other priorities, Cr Gulline said she was interested in whether a potential Labor government would continue the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program, which provides millions towards shovel-ready projects in the municipality.

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The program was established by the Coalition government in May 2020 as a response to the COVID pandemic and provides local governments with funding for priority maintenance projects.

"If Labor gets in what is their position on that funding. Again, that is untied and we get a bucket of money we can choose what to do with," she said.

"We submit that list to them, and they say yes it ticks the criteria, but it is essentially the community saying these are the projects important to us. It is not a competitive grant application."

Cr Gulline said the funding would help repair some of the 3000 kilometres of road the council oversees and increase general livability in the region.

Rail was also another priority for the council, after the announcement of $2.2 million to build a business case for the Portland-Maroona rail line in the 2022 federal budget.

Cr Gulline said upgrades to the line would incentivize the use of rail for Wimmera grain holders and mineral sands mines, freeing up the municipalities roads from a large number of transport trucks.

"That is a key piece of infrastructure for us to make it more attractive for produce to go, whether it be agricultural produce or mineral sands, on the train rather than on the roads," she said.

Cr Gulline said she would also like to more committed to blackspot funding in the Wimmera.

"We have a lot of black spots in our region, whether it be for mobile phone or internet. A lot of people not that far from town are having to go with satellites, and that is a great challenge in and of itself," she said.

"It is an issue when our world now relies on the internet. Is this blackspot funding for telecommunications going to continue for both sides, because it is a serious issue.

"Dadswells Bridge has issues. We shouldn't be having issues down there. If we can fix it for Dadswells we can fix it for that whole area."

She said careful planning and community consultation was needed to make the most of federal funding, regardless of the election outcome.

"We will work with whoever as long as they help us deliver what they need to for our residents," she said.

"I think with all of the planning work we are doing, we are trying to be strategic. It is very easy to be scattergun and be pulled from pillar to post depending on what funding you can get. We are really trying to deliver on what the community says they want."

To see Regional Cities Victoria full 2022-25 advocacy platform, visit their website.

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